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Cited by 260Substance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Changes in sensation seeking and risk-taking propensity predict increases in alcohol use among early adolescents

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MacPherson, Laura, Magidson, Jessica F., Reynolds, Elizabeth K., Kahler, Christopher W., Lejuez, C. W.·2010·Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research
DOI 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01223.xPMC PMC3123723
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Conceptual models implicating disinhibitory traits often are applied to understanding emergent alcohol use, but, little is known of how inter-individual changes in these constructs relate to increases in alcohol use in early adolescence. The current study utilized behavioral and self-report instruments to capture the disinhibitory-based constructs of sensation seeking and risk-taking propensity to examine if increases in these constructs over time related to increases in early adolescent alcohol use. METHODS: Participants included a community sample of 257 early adolescents (aged 9 to 12) who completed a self-report measure of sensation seeking, a behavioral task assessing risk-taking propensity, and a self-report of past year alcohol use, at 3 annual assessment waves. RESULTS: Both sensation seeking and risk-taking propensity demonstrated significant increases over time, with additional evidence that change in the behavioral measure of risk-taking propensity was not because of practice effects. Greater sensation seeking and greater risk-taking propensity demonstrated concurrent relationships with past year alcohol use at each assessment wave. Prospective analyses indicated that after accounting for initial levels of alcohol use, sensation seeking, and risk-taking propensity at the first assessment wave, larger increases in both constructs predicted greater odds of alcohol use at subsequent assessment waves. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate the role of individual changes in disinhibitory traits in initial alcohol use in early adolescents. Specifically, findings suggest it is not simply initial levels of sensation seeking and risk-taking propensity that contribute to subsequent alcohol use but in particular increases in each of these constructs that predict greater odds of use. Future work should continue to assess the development of sensation seeking and risk-taking propensity in early adolescence and target these constructs in interventions as a potential means to reduce adolescent alcohol use.

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  • Measures of sensation seeking are often found to be predictive of self-reported risk taking.

    “As anticipated by the dual systems model, measures of sensation seeking are often found to be predictive of self-reported risk taking (e.g., Kong et al., 2013, MacPherson et al., 2010).”

    From The dual systems model: Review, reappraisal, and reaffirmation (2016) · cites this paper as MacPherson et al., 2010

    The Results report that increases in sensation seeking predicted later alcohol use, which participants self-reported (Methods). The Measures section also describes the sensation-seeking scale as predictive of risky behaviors. But this study assessed risk-taking propensity with a behavioral task, not a self-report measure, so it does not directly establish the broader claim about self-reported risk taking. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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  • Sensation seeking increases from childhood into adolescence.

    “This overall pattern is further corroborated by a number of longitudinal studies following individuals from childhood into adolescence, which find that sensation seeking increases across this time period”

    From The dual systems model: Review, reappraisal, and reaffirmation (2016) · cites this paper as MacPherson et al., 2010

  • Age and BART version were controlled for in the analyses.

    “Next, because the BART is sensitive to age effects (MacPherson et al. 2010), we controlled for the child’s age, as well as the BART version.”

    From Risk taking and sensitivity to punishment in children with ADHD, ODD, ADHD+ODD, and controls (2011) · cites this paper as MacPherson et al. 2010

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Authors
MacPherson, L., Magidson, J. F., Reynolds, E. K., Kahler, C. W., & Lejuez, C. W.
Affiliations
Brown University (US)
Corresponding author
MacPherson, Laura
ORCID
Venue
Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2010-07-21
Volume
34
Issue
8
Pages
1400-1408
ISSN
  • 0145-6008 (ISSN-L)
  • 1530-0277
DOI
10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01223.x
PMC
PMC3123723
OpenAlex
W1916274993
Cited by
260
References
55
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 27 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 7
FWCI
9.77
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute on Drug Abuse (K23DA023143, R01DA018647)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
sensation seeking, risk propensity, adolescent alcohol use, early adolescence, alcohol use prediction, prevention interventions
MeSH terms
Age Factors, Alcohol Drinking, Child, Child Behavior, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Forecasting, Humans, Male, Prospective Studies, Risk-Taking

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